NatWest (merged)

Paulxo

Hi

Thanks Rex.

I accidentally didn't write a second letter to my other success and they sent me a cheque straight away. I made it quite clear in my letter and they point blank refused. Where is there to go from there?

CODEBREAKER

i have sent my 1st letter off to natwest, i posted it to my local branch, did anyother natwest customer do the same??

i did not see the link for all bank addresses when i sent my 1st letter

Rex_Mundi

Paulxo wrote:

I accidentally didn't write a second letter to my other success and they sent me a cheque straight away.

Getting your charges back after just one letter seems to be just pot luck. It does seem weird how some claims are being settled after the first letter, and loads more claims are being made to issue court claims. The one case I heard about that actually went to the hearing stage was with Natwest. In this case, the customer lost. This was partly down to lack of preparation on his part. For each claim that people start they need to follow each stage carefully, and be prepared to go all the way to a court hearing (even though in 99.99% of claims it wont get that far). If you follow the steps carefully laid out in Martins article, and over at CAG. It should prepare you, and your claim for a good case if it goes all the way.

Paulxo wrote:

I made it quite clear in my letter and they point blank refused. Where is there to go from there?

If they refused your first letter claiming your charges back. It would be best to send the 'letter before action' as set out in step 4 of Martins article. This makes it clear to the bank that you would like to settle, but are prepared to issue a court claim if they don't want to. If your claim ever did get to a hearing, by sending both letters it makes it look like you did at least make an effort to settle before issuing court papers. It looks far better than 'I sent one letter, they turned me down so I issued a court claim'.

Rex_Mundi

CODEBREAKER wrote:

i have sent my 1st letter off to natwest, i posted it to my local branch, did anyother natwest customer do the same??

i did not see the link for all bank addresses when i sent my 1st letter

I've sent every letter so far for 6 claims (including one Natwest) all to the peoples local branch. This has never been a problem so far. Just make sure all your letters are sent recorded/registered delivery (you have proof they received it).

RBS

Hi

I am an employee for a leading bank & i thought i would add that this site is fab.

Through this consumer action you have the banks worried for many reasons

(1)Your requests for information either through the data protection act or just requesting statements is giving the banks a major headache, the up shot is they are having to either hire more staff or pay overtime to their staff, they dont like this.

(2) I have read many posts regarding banks closing accounts or being funny with your overdraft, the best advice i can give you is to contact your local press with this story, as the damage that can be caused to the banks reputation is immense, in other words it would potentially drive down their new customer business.

(3)It costs the banks thousands of pounds to attend a court hearing & yes they do have standard letters stating that they will appear in court this is their way of calling your bluff, the reality is very different when it comes to actually appearing. The banks costs mainly come from the logistics of preparation for the defence & then their is the actual costs of the banks solicitors turning up on the day, they dont have enough lawyers to deal with this.

(4) Lastly i have read that it costs the bank about £12 in reality for the charges to be applied etc, this brought a huge smile to my face.

Banks are the industry leaders when it comes to efficiency and their is no way they would continue to allow something as simple as a charge being levied on an account to cost this much. The initial costs would have been to their computer system but im sure you will aggree that this has been for 10 times over. In other words ask the banks to prove this actual cost for each transaction you will probably find that they will not go down this route.

One other thing has anyone realised that the majority of charges come about the day before your actual monthly salary is paid into your account,mmmm funny that, how interest is applied to your account at midnight the day of you being paid!!!!!!!!!!!

This is a deliberate ploy by the banks to generate income for themselves.

Ps

Has anyone not questions sealing fees for the redemption of mortgage accounts yet??????

Enjoy & good luck

Rex_Mundi

Hi RBS

Welcome to MSE. Excellent post!!!

Regarding the £12 charge. This figure is in relation to an OFT decision on 5th April 2006 regarding credit card costs. The OFT have said they would regard regard any CC charge above £12 as an unfair charge. They do point out this is the maximum amount they would regard as a 'fair' charge. I still feel CC companies are stretching it by using this amount for every charge.

Read more on this here.

Louise_Iverson

I have got as far as claiming online with Moneyclaim, however NatWest have entered a defence and are asking for more information.
Here is a summary of what I have received:
The cover letter says:
Enclosed
1 Defence
2 Request for further information
(They haven't received my charges summary)
Then there are 3 pages of defence which I don't really understand and this request for further information.
Request is served pursuant to CPR Part 18 alternatively with regard to CPR rule 27.2(3)

Does this mean that I just have to send them the charges summary???

Also,
I didn't just receive my defence I recieved someone elses as well, I'm obviously going to forward it on to them but should I do anything else with it?
i.e report to NatWest, Law Society???

Edinburghlass_2

Have a read of the previous Nat West posts and you might like to look at this thread.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=314558

I'm not sure what you mean by forward it on them, do you mean the person who the papers should have gone to? If so I would return immediately to the address it came from so they know it has gone out to the wrong person.

Mistakes happen when papers get attached to others and put in the same envelope, not something that really needs be reported to the Law Society.

Smickan

A very stupid question, please excuse my naivety but...

Are their only certain charges that can be returned, I've read the thread that said:

CAN BE CLAIMED

Unarranged borrowing fee
Unauthorised overdraft fee

I've got one of those that was taken last month [admittedly, they knocked it down to £14 [half price apparently] as I pleaded with the overdraft guy that I couldn't afford them to charge me] and I have a feeling that thanks to a direct debit [my fault, I know, but the date it comes out changes every month so I never know when to be ready It was the 14th of october and the 24th of november ] meant I was 5 days over drawn by £10.50[ish] and I'm expecting another charge to be put onto my account for December/January.

Is there anything I can do or do I just have to lump it...? I'd appreciate any help, thank you!

jillie1974

i've sent my first letter today to Natwest, sent it to the address on another thread but i havent sent it recorded delivery as i saw no mention of this on Martins tips, now i'm worried that they'll say they never received it.. also is the maximum of 40 days working days or actual? days ie i sent mine today so am i due a reponse by 13Jan or later date?